Telepaths can read thoughts, empaths can read emotions. The only exceptions are when reading the minds of species with four lobed brains, most notably, the Ferengi. Your character’s power should be noted in his or her profile; using the table below. When noting the number, place an E before the number if your character is an empath. Place a T if your character is a telepath.
| -1 | Non-readable entity; most likely four-lobed brain |
| 0 | No telepathic or empathic abilities |
| 0+ | Extra Sensory Perception |
| 1 | Same species, touch only |
| 2 | Same species, no contact required |
| 3 | Species with two lobed brain, touch only |
| 4 | Species with two lobed brain, no contact required |
| 5 | Any species, touch only |
| 6 | Any species, no contact required |
Each captain has a different feeling about Telepathy. To be certain, Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP) of various types play an important role in the Star Trek universe. Numerous episodes across all series have used telepathy. Yet, in a role playing game, there is always the concern that telepathy will be over used. It could become a golden bullet solving almost any problem. This is a trap to be aware of, and avoided.
The use of Telepathy must be situational. For example, one ship completed a mission in which the crew made first contact with a telepathic species. In this mission the vessel’s numerous telepaths, whose powers are normally downplayed, suddenly moved to the forefront. It fit the mission context, but on subsequent missions telepathy hardly played any role.
Principals of Telepathy
- Keep it in the background mostly. Mention it in sim the way you would mention any other sense. For instance: if your character is in a rose garden, you might mention the scent of flowers in your sim. Essentially Telepathy is just another sense.
- No silver lining is without a disadvantage. Keep in mind the down-side of being a telepath serving among those who have little control over their minds and emotions. What is it like to be on StarBase 118 with 350,000 minds all crying out? Or if you look into the mind of a killer, perhaps you cannot sleep for the next week, and end up in sickbay. Nothing is free.
- Assume your character and culture has a taboo about freely entering the minds of others. This will give you a reason for not uncovering everybody’s secrets.
- Remember alien minds are just that. Perhaps there is difficulty interpreting what a lizard people’s thoughts really mean. This gives you a chance to do highly symbolic simming.
- When doing any kind of simming, ask yourself how it enhances the sim for the other players. Does your sim open up avenues for them to explore, or does it close them? The more you think about helping others to sim and providing them opportunities, the better your simming will be.
- Don’t be afraid to talk to your Captain about ideas you have. This is true of every aspect of simming.
- In the first few months of simming, keep your telepathy limited to those in visual range. This provides a natural check, while you are learning how to play the game appropriately.
Readers Guild
The Readers Guild website, on our wiki, has an abundance of resources regarding telepathy, empathy, and other forms of psionics.
(Written by: Fleet Captain Hollis, and Fleet Admiral Wolf.)
